Full Program »

2.5.7 An Archdiocesan Approach to the Identification and Selection of Gifted Learners

This session is about one Catholic school system’s approach to identifying and selecting gifted students for its Newman Selective Gifted Education Program, which has improved the effective provisions for gifted learners across the largest Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia. Key findings from the pilot project suggested that parents are keen to nominate their children for placement in a secondary Newman class, systemic sharing of primary school data supports student profiles, and the use of a system-designed "hotmat" makes the process time-efficient. These findings concur with research, which concludes that using multiple criteria for identification highlights the diversity of gifted learners.

Author(s):

Penina Barry
penina.kiss@syd.catholic.edu.au
Sydney Catholic Schools
Australia

Penina Barry is currently co-leading the Newman Selective Gifted Education Program in Sydney Catholic Schools Australia. She has worked in school executive leadership teams as a leader of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum and has experience in diverse learning teams where she coordinated gifted education in a range of secondary schools. She has extensive experience in teaching and leading science and she coordinates the Newman Selective Gifted Education professional learning schedule for secondary school Principals and other leaders across the Archdiocese. Penina has completed a Masters of Educational Leadership and a Masters of Gifted Education at the University of NSW Australia.